The voted-by-the-public VFiles showcase the five very different designers into the mix this season.

The VFiles show has risen to become an important platform for new design talent in recent years, and this season was no exception. Looking to the future in every sense, there was an abundance of wearable tech on show yesterday – not an area usually known for it’s aesthetic excellence, admittedly, but perhaps Neurocoture will change all that. Still, we’re not talking super-practical stuff here, Nayana Malhotra (Neurocoture’s designer) probably qualifies as an artist rather than a designer in the traditional sense of the word, and her cape-cum-screen pieces had everything from digital art to a Donald Trump GIF projected onto them – performance pieces, occasionally political in nature, more than anything.

Elsewhere, Ottolinger (the collaborative project from Cosima Godient and Christa Bösch) served up heavily stitched pieces with constructions exposed and exaggerated and panels of cloth asymmetrically layered. There was a hint of fetish-wear to proceedings too, with thigh high boots lending that unmistakable taste of underground clubland to the collection. Then came strong looks courtesy of Sophie Hardemann, whose denim-heavy collection played with gender-bending vibes and felt somehow especially relevant with its directional but mostly (upturned skirt aside) wearable vibes. Undoubtedly an invigorating selection from what claims to be the most democratic showcase in fashion: watch this space.

Photographer: Gabriela Celeste